Women must shout to be heard in the boardroom

Women who hope to break the glass ceiling must speak up if they want to reach senior boardroom positions, research suggests.

Talented female professionals are being drowned out in “antiquated and testosterone-fuelled” workplaces where loud and bullish men attract more attention and are given more credit, according to the findings.

The research, published yesterday by Active Presence, a consultancy company, suggests talented women are at a “shocking” disadvantage in the majority of workplaces which still favour the “male communication model”. It was “almost impossible” for female professionals to compete without unnaturally copying the “boorish behaviour” of male colleagues, the study found.

A total of 400 women were questioned, over half of whom said that their voice was not treated as seriously as a man’s in the workplace. Nearly a quarter said that their suggestions to improve company performance had gone unheard.

Chris Davidson, the study’s creator and author of Hear and Now: How Women Get Heard More At Work and Why It Matters, said “If businesses boardrooms are drowning in testosterone then its not surprising that women feel sidelined, belittled and undervalued.

The above article was published in The Times by Neil Johnston, it’s relevant to you and so we thought we would share what he has to say.

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